Modular swimming pool construction using pre-formed wall panels is well known, and there are a wide variety of such panels. The wall panels can be straight or curved depending on the wall segment and the shape of the pool, and generally have some sort of brace structure embedded in the ground outside of the wall panels and a top flange extending horizontally outward from the top of the panel. The top flange is useful to mount a hanger for the pool liner and provides an attachment surface for coverings to hide the top of the panel. These coverings are frequently referred to by the inclusive term “coping”, derived from the same term for the top course of a stone wall, which was usually slanted slightly to run off rainwater. In the field of swimming pool construction, however, a coping can be resilient plastic or vinyl coverings, concrete aprons, decorative tile, brick, stone or other decorative structure.
When a heavy material such as concrete or stone is used to provide a wide coping, there is some risk of cracks appearing over time due to settling of the backfill around the pool. In a typical installation, after the wall panels are connected and leveled, a concrete footer is poured around the base of the walls and the bottom segments of the panel brace structure. Then the excavated pit is backfilled outside the walls to a level at or above the top of the wall. Then a shallow trench is excavated in the backfill and a form of some sort is placed in the trench in order to pour a concrete coping layer or the base for stone pavers. One side of the form is usually attached to and overlies the top flange of the wall panel, but the bulk of the form is supported only by the backfill. If the backfill settles, the coping layer is cantilevered to the wall panel and can easily crack.
There have been many panels and brace assemblies designed to alleviate the problem of supporting heavy coping and/or attached decks. Some employ hollow upright tubes attached to the brace structure and extending upward to behind the wall panel, so that pouring a concrete surface layer simultaneously fills the tubes and creates structural support columns beneath. Examples of this design are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,232,491; 4,781,000; and 5,025,601. Another design shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,324 uses swing out deck support brackets with pivot mounts on bolts in the wall panels.
These designs may provide support for a wide concrete coping or apron, but they add cost and complexity to the wall assembly. In addition, the structure to attach the tubes and pivot mounts remains on the wall panel structure whether they are used or not. It would be useful to have instead a standard, simple wall panel and provide with it easily attachable structure for selectively adding a support extension outward from the top of the panel. This invention provides that capability.